Wednesday, October 5, 2011

And Then I Fell in a Manhole...

The past 30 hours have been... rough, to say the least. I had an architecture project that required MUCH more time to do than I imagined. In constructing it I got a T-pin painfully stuck under my nail. I ended up not sleeping more than three hours last night (really this morning) and it was an uneasy rest. My critique for said project was weak. I was unprepared for the class that followed the architecture one. And to make today a little eventful I managed to fall into a manhole.
Yes, a manhole. And let me tell you, doing that is nothing like modern Alice and Wonderland stories would have you believe.

You have no idea how many runs are really in these tights. Especially on the inner leg, but that made for a very awkward picture and the internet and I are not ready for that phase of our relationship (or ever will be).

Really, only my right leg got sucked into what I am sure is secretly a vortex to an alternate universe, but phrasing it the right way makes the whole fiasco sound much more exciting.
I got a couple of nasty scratches and bruises, but I think I'll survive. What upsets me more than my minor injuries (both physical and emotional... people did see this happen to me so I'm quite embarrassed...) is that my last pair of intact tights got shredded. Thankfully they weren't my stockings, that would have been truly upsetting.
Gosh, I'm just full of complaints, I'm sorry!
I'm really not terribly sad or angry (at the city for having faulty hole-covers) or anything, I just felt like explaining what things have been like lately as a sort of excuse for not posting anything too great.

In the meantime, if you're curious about that architect, Erich Mendelsohn, of whom I now know way too much about, here are some images of my favorite projects of his.

Mossehaus, circa 1921-23, Berlin.
This is my favorite design of his.
It is actually an addition to a pre-existing sandstone structure which was damaged during post World War I rioting in Berlin.

A sketch of his design for the Universum Kino, which is the theater I did my project on.

A photo from the early 30s showing some of the front facade of the Universum. This is one of the only early photos I could find of it.

This is the other early photo I was able to find. I really think this theater was awesome. I love the whole German movement of movie theater design of that time. The notion was "No more Rococo palace for Buster Keaton"

What the site of Universum now looks like. It was restored in the early 1980s, several decades after it was mostly destroyed by bombings.

Sketches Mendelsohn did for a department store, I believe.

My apologies to those of you uninterested in architecture, but being a historic preservationist (in the making) I happen to want to share my love for such lovely creations. Architecture is, after all, the most public form of art!

I can't believe you fell in a manhole! That's really terrible! Hopefully you'll be laughing about it soon (when those bruises go away, right?).

I have absolutely no problem with the discussion of architecture. My dad's an architect and works a lot in historic preservation. One of his projects was the renovation of the Colcord Hotel in Oklahoma City: http://www.colcordhotel.com/index.html. He's awfully cute because he was a bit miffed at the owners and interior designers wanting the interior to "look like a Pottery Barn." Clients can be a pain in the butt! :-)

I love old buildings and thought about preservation as a career path many years ago, but I don't really have the temperament for it! Now I basically just plan all my vacations around visiting old buildings. That works for me! Good luck in your classes--we need people who are passionate about preserving public art.

I was actually laughing right after my "OHSHIT!" moment... for about three minutes, really.

That is so cool about your dad doing H.P. related architecture! I checked out that building. It looks great! Im not anti-Pottery Barn or anything (I actually often see things there I like) but to make a historic building look that common and bland is blasphemous.Your visiting these sites is hugely important to preservation, so in a way your still very involved with the field.